Paramour in Peril
by GaeilgeRua
Summary: She tried to rescue him, she honestly did, but the twins and April Fool's Day had other ideas.


_Saturday, 01 April, 2000 –– The Leaky Cauldron_

Hermione frowned as she watched Fred and George sneak up on their next unsuspecting victim. She'd already seen the two prank nearly a dozen people over the course of the past two hours, and there didn't seem to be an end in sight.

"Hey, Hermione, do you—"

"Hold that thought, Gin," she said, cutting the redheaded witch off. Hermione picked up her drink and made her way across the room, intent on rescuing the damsel in distress, er, make that paramour in peril. Hermione giggled to herself. She didn't even have to try and she was funny! Too bad most of her friends didn't see it that way.

Hermione was just steps away from her target, when the two redhead pranksters reached him. She paused, listening in.

"Draco, mate," Fred greeted.

As George finished with, "How are you doing?"

The blond eyed the two wizards on either side of him warily. "I'm fine, thank you. And you two?" One slim blond brow arched slightly in question.

George grinned. "Oh, we are fabulous, thank you for asking!"

"It's not every day that a bloke gets to spend his birthday celebrating with family, friends, and pranks!"

"Exactly!" George exclaimed, agreeing with his twin. A twinkle appeared in his mischievous blue eyes. "Do you know what would be a perfect prank?"

At those words, Hermione sprang into action, knowing that if she didn't stop them now then all the hard work her, Ginny, and Harry had done since the end of the war with the somewhat prickly blond wizard would be blown to bits over one of their senseless pranks.

"Draco!" She chirped, finally making her presence known, a bright smile on her face. "Just the wizard I was looking for."

"Oh? And why is that, Granger?"

"I need someone to dance with and everyone else here has two left feet, including these two clowns."

"Hey!" Fred groused. "Watch it, Granger!"

George smirked. "We resemble that remark."

Hermione laughed. "You definitely do." She turned back to the blond in question. "Well?"

Draco looked from Hermione to the two wizards on either side of him and then back to Hermione. She raised both eyebrows expectantly.

Downing the last of his firewhisky, he stood up, a smirk slowly formed on his lips. "Who am I to turn down such an offer?" He looked from Fred to George, not looking contrite in the slightest. "Sorry guys."

Hermione quickly led him away from the twins and as she did, she heard one of them grumble, "Well, we just bollocksed that up."

They stopped once they reached the edge of the dance floor and turned to face each other. "So how do I repay you for stopping them?"

"Hmmm." Hermione hummed as she thought over his request, taking a couple sips from her drink. "How about a dance, a drink, and dinner?"

She held her breath as she waited for him to answer.

He looked at her, searching for any sign that she was joking. After a moment, he stepped forward, taking her in his arms to dance. "Deal."

Hermione quickly downed the last of her pinot grigio before setting the empty glass on a nearby table and stepping back into Draco's arms as the song changed to a slower tune.

Hermione flushed. "Not exactly the kind of song I was thinking of when I asked."

Pulling her closer, Draco grinned. "We'll make it work."

The couple danced in silence, for once enjoying each other's company without the need of words. Nice or otherwise. While they were dancing, they missed the execution the twins' next prank, but they didn't miss the end result.

Fred and George tried to look innocently at the furious couple, but failed miserably.

"There really isn't anything you can do, but let the spell run its course."

Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose with her right hand, as her left was wrapped around Draco's neck and shoulders. "And how long is that?"

"Uh… twelve hours or so?" George supplied.

"We think," Fred added.

"You _think_ this spell of yours will wear off in twelve hours, but you don't know that for sure?"

The two redheads glanced at each other before looking at Draco and Hermione. "Yes?"

Hermione groaned, on the verge of pulling on her hair, she was so frustrated with the two idiots before her.

"Shite," Draco mumbled.

Hermione nodded her head in agreement. "My thoughts exactly." She stared hard at the wizards standing in front of her trying to decide what exactly she wanted to do with them. Realising that both she and Draco were too pissed off at the situation and that they might do something irrational, she waved Fred and George away. They didn't need any further encouragement to get away from the furious pair.

Draco glared at her. "What'd you do that for?!"

She smiled sweetly. "Don't worry, we'll get them back. I'd just rather do it when I can think without wanting to wring their necks."

"I'm all for wringing their scrawny, Weasley necks. Wankers."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "How about we not send you to Azkaban for a double murder?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Fine, have it your way."

"How about we head to one of our places and call it a night, it's not like we'll be able to do much else other than sitting around."

Draco looked down at their hips. "I'm still waiting for my new flat to be finished, so I'm still at the manor. Why don't we go to your place?"

"Thank you, Draco." Hermione smiled, appreciating the fact that Draco didn't try to force her to go back to the one place she wasn't ready to face yet. "I'll have to enlarge my bed a little to fit both of us, but I'm fine with it."

Draco slid his right arm around her waist, a smirk forming on his lips. "That won't be necessary."

"What?" Hermione stared up at him wide-eyed.

He chuckled. "You heard me, now, let's go."

Hermione gaped at him a moment longer before slowly nodding her head.

They carefully made their way through the pub towards the fireplace.

"And where do you think you're going?"

Hermione sighed; she had been hoping they could get out of there without anyone stopping them. At this point, she just wanted to get home and sit down. Her side, legs, and back were bothering her, because of the awkward way they had been joined together.

"We're leaving."

Ginny's eyes widened. "Together? You two? Since when?"

"Since your idiot brothers decided it would be a brilliant idea to use a spell to join us together at the hip."

"What?"

Draco spoke first. "Go ask Tweedledee and Tweedledum."

"Because we're heading for my flat and my couch for the time being," Hermione finished. She kissed the redhead on the cheek. "I'll talk to you later."

"Okay, I'll floo you tomorrow sometime."

Draco and Hermione left the redheaded witch as he led her to the fireplace. Hermione reached for some floo powder as they heard Ginny's voice echo over the noise of the bar.

"FRED! GEORGE! GET OVER HERE!"

"And that's our cue to leave," Hermione mumbled, stepping into the fireplace with the wizard she was attached to.

"Trying to sneak a peak?" Draco teased, looking down at her as she buried her head back behind his shoulder.

Hermione blushed, shaking her head. "No," she said, although she didn't sound so sure in her response.

Draco laughed. "Feel free to look all you want, I'm not ashamed of my body."

Hermione peaked up at him, a blush still staining the apples of her cheeks. "You are so full of yourself, you do know that right?"

"And yet, you wouldn't want me any other way." He finished, and after flushing the toilet and tucking himself back in, he waited for the blushing witch to show her face again. "I'm done now, Miss Prude."

Hermione removed her head from her hiding spot and glared at him. "I am not a prude."

Draco laughed again, moving them over to the sink to wash their hands. "No, you just get embarrassed by the fact that I caught you trying to sneak a peak."

"I wasn't trying to sneak a peak," Hermione retorted.

"You just keep telling yourself that, love." Draco dried his hands before patting her cheek. "Now, let's go to bed."

They made their way out of the bathroom and back into her bedroom. Hermione hesitated. "Um, Draco?"

"Yes?" He replied, although his shirt being pulled over his head muffled his reply.

"How are we going to manage this?" She opened one of the drawers of her dresser and pulled out a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.

"You mean besides 'very carefully'?" She nodded. Draco looked at her bed, thinking it over, as Hermione tried to change as quickly as possible, conscientious of not letting him see her. He noticed. "Why are you trying to hide? You have a beautiful body."

She shook her head. "No, I don't. Not when I have this horrible scar marring my skin."

Draco grabbed her hand, stopping her movements. He pointed to the mirror to his left. "Look at yourself." He turned them so they were standing in front of the mirror. Draco in his trousers and socks while Hermione had managed to change into her shorts, but he'd stopped her before she could get her sleep shirt on."Your scar, which you say is horrible, gives you more character than if your skin was unblemished. It shows that you're a warrior and a survivor. Look at me." He waited for her eyes to meet his. When they did, he continued, "Never let anyone tell you otherwise."

The flickering light of her bedroom candles glinted off the gathering tears in her eyes. "Thank you, Draco."

He shrugged. "I mean it, Hermione. You're beautiful in your own right and honestly, you're much prettier than any pureblood witch I know. Besides my mum of course." He grinned.

Hermione laughed. "Of course."

She finished changing, banishing her clothes from earlier into the hamper by her wardrobe. Noticing Draco hesitate, she raised an eyebrow. "Everything okay?"

"Uh, yeah," he replied, looking unsure for the first time that she'd ever seen. "Would you be more comfortable if I slept in my trousers rather than my boxers?"

Thrown off by his question, she was silent for a few moments. "Oh, that wasn't what I was expecting you to say." She bit her lip. "I would, but I do have a pair of pyjama bottoms that were my father's that you can use."

Draco nodded. "That works for me." As they made their way to the drawer she placed them in, something occurred to him. "What are you doing with your father's pyjama bottoms?"

Hermione laughed as she rummaged through the drawer. "I've always been a daddy's girl and would constantly steal them from him when I was home for holidays, so after the war, when I found them in Australia and returned their memories to them, he gave them to me before I returned to England." She closed the drawer as she handed the pyjama bottoms to Draco. "Naturally, they had been upset with me for what I had done, but once things settled down, we were able to patch things up for the most part. My parents did decide to stay in Australia for the time being, but he wanted me to have something of his. My mum on the other hand still hasn't fully forgiven me, but we're getting there."

Draco quickly changed, removing his socks in the process. "Well, they may not be the most flattering of shades, but they're very comfortable."

Hermione snickered. "Personally, I think you look fetching in those pyjama bottoms."

He raised a questioning eyebrow.

She smirked. "Not everyone can pull off penguins in santa hats."

Draco barely refrained from rolling his eyes. "Well, at least they don't have lions all over them."

Hermione's eyes lit up. "Oh, now that would be a sight to see. The Slytherin prince running around in pyjama bottoms with lions all over them." She dissolved into a fit of giggles, holding on to Draco to keep from knocking both of them to the ground.

Shaking his head, Draco wrapped his right arm around her waist and tugged her towards the bed. "I definitely think it is time for bed, I've never seen you this giggly."

"It's a combination of the wine earlier, not much sleep, and a late night tonight."

She raised her wand, intending to enlarge her bed. Draco's hand stopped her.

His thumb caressed the inside of her wrist as he spoke, "Why don't we wait and see if we actually need it."

Hermione looked up at him, eyes wide. "Oh, um, okay."

She pulled back the covers as Draco set her wand on the bedside table next to him. Carefully manoeuvring themselves across the bed, Draco set his own wand on the bedside table on his side, before they settled down under the covers. It looked like Draco was right; they did have enough space.

Waving her hand, Hermione whispered, "Nox," and plunged them into near darkness.

Not wanting to say anything to make their situation even more uncomfortable, they lay in awkward silence for over an hour before they both started to drift off to sleep.

The next morning, they found themselves in a different kind of awkward situation, but one that was more welcome. Their legs entangled with each other's, Hermione's head was lying comfortably on Draco's chest with her right hand resting over his heart, and one of Draco's arms wrapped around her shoulders, while the other had settled over the curve of her hip.


End file.
